Is anybody who is around southern Indiana planning to go to Ribberfest at Madison in August?

I sent a message on twitter to a KCBS competition team out of Indy asking if he would ever consider taking a backyard rookie and giving him some tips and tricks to help learn more about ribs and other meats to help improve my cooking skills. I got a reply back from him saying that if I wanted to come to a competition some weekend I would be more than welcome to join his team for a weekend. Since Ribberfest is close to my area I asked if I could join the team there in August. As long as he agrees I will be there as a part of the KCBS Bark Shark BBQ Competition team. This ought to be a great learning experience indeed not only to learn some competition cook and prep techniques but also to learn more about the KCBS process.

It sounds like you're in for a real learning experience, Jeff! It's good you were able to meet someone willing to give a rookie a shot, but he probably won't be letting you mix the rubs or work the fire anytime soon.

BTW, I was in Madison (Clifty Falls S.P.) about 3 weeks ago with plans to have a burger at Hinkle's. Naturally, since it was the week after Regatta (which was cancelled anyway from what I understand) they were closed...

Brad,From what he told me he will put me to work if I am willing which I am and also he will be an open book and share everything he knows. He said he went thru Myron Mixon's class last year and that is what he is using towards his program this year. He told me to go ahead and bring a notebook and take all the notes I want and he will answer any and all questions that I have. I have lots of questions that I want to ask and I am hoping to come out of this weekend with a lot of great tips to try out. First thing I want to try is ribs, I am dying for a killer rack of ribs. Also I will get the chance to see the differences between using my char broil compared to webers because he runs 2 -18" and 2 - 22.5" Weber Smoky Mountains. He has a Stumps Stumpster on order but it has not arrived yet and is looking to be several weeks down the road still. Also I am hoping to meet some of the other Indiana teams which I think a couple of them runs Jambos.

Jhumpert - You'll like those Weber's. I have one of each. Day I bought my 18 1/2" several years ago , I watched Cancer Sucks Chicago, on a zero degree -20+ wind chill day, cook a friendly competition on 18 1/2" WSM's. Haven't seen him cook for a while but would think he's still using Weber's. Probably a combo of his old 18 1/2"r's but has some 22 1/2"r's in the mix.I cook often but do not cook large quantities. I'd rather cook every day than cook a bunch to stick in freezer then not cook for a month. I've only had my 22 1/2" WSM fired up once this year but glad I have it. I often use my 26 3/4" One Touch Gold as a smoker - I did tonight. Use the side baskets and set up indirect - minion my charcoal - unlit all natural hardwood briquettes and only add about 1/5 chimney of lit - small water pan in center. I usually do this for 2 - 3 hour cooks, but I can hold 250 degrees, with a gradual drop to 225, for up to 5 hours without reload. Don't know if I can go longer without a reload - 5 hours is the longest I've gone before closing the vents. Good luck with your learning from the comp guys. I've had the opportunity to do that a few times with local bbq joint comp team.

From what he told me he will put me to work if I am willing which I am and also he will be an open book and share everything he knows. He said he went thru Myron Mixon's class last year and that is what he is using towards his program this year. He told me to go ahead and bring a notebook and take all the notes I want and he will answer any and all questions that I have.

That's great! It's always nice to read or hear about someone who's interested in helping others learn. Now you need to get him signed up here...

Looking forward to seeing your ribs in the August grill challenge thread!

Brad I am sure that we will have some down time once we get meats prepped and resting to have some downtime to sit and talk and I can bring up the site and mention it to him. Turn in won't start until 11:00 to 2:00 saturday morning so not sure we will be putting brisket and pork butts on the grills. I imagine that will happen sometime late evening for an overnight cook. Not sure what all happens between checkin and cook time other than setup grills and stations. Box creation will be done also at some point. They also have a dessert and open category so he may be doing those Friday.

I know they are also having an amateur comp there that friday and check in is at 6am with turn ins at 5 pm friday because I was actually chosen to judge that comp but I chose loyalty with bark shark because I will learn more from him than I would judging.

Well I survived my first KCBS competition, we ended up 49th overall I do believe. After working with him this weekend I now realize I have been doing my whole smoke routine wrong and learned from my mistakes. Looking forward to making competition style ribs labor day weekend. I learned a lot and got the chance to see all of the behind the scenes stuff that goes on. I got to work with all the rubs and mix brisket marinade and everything. We didn't get there until around 11:00 Friday to start setting up then had meat inspection around noon by KCBS. After inspection we walked around seeing where his other buddies were set up at. We ended up being set up straight across from turn in location.

After we came back we started trimming the 4 butts and got them injected and put to bed in the coolers. By this time it was time for the cooks meeting so he and I went to the meeting while his father in law kept setting up stuff at the site. Later that afternoon we trimmed and injected the brisket and he trimmed chicken and got it in the cooler on ice. After we got back from eating we started getting the Stump stretch heated up and held it at 250 until around 2:30 AM. There was also a blues festival going on and we had a very obnoxious team across from us with a very loud air horn (Which KCBS made them quit blowing after many complaints) every time an attractive female walked by. I ended up falling asleep sometime between 10-11 in a Coleman chair with my feet on a cooler with my jacket pulled over my head and my sweatshirt sleeves pulled around my hands struggling to stay warm.

My morning started at 3:30 AM Saturday with pork butts on the table needing rubbed which I was the rub person for the weekend as well as all other activities. I knew the stretch was warm and at temp so I gave the grill a huge bear hug to get myself warmed up after a chilly night sleeping. We got the butts and brisket rubbed and got the butts on the stretch around 4 AM followed by the brisket shortly after that. We then turned our attention to ribs and Mike showed me how to take the membrane off then cut down to St Louis style ribs, rolled them up and bagged them until time for rubbing. We took the rib trimmings and made rib tips and got them rubbed and started smoking. Next came quick nap time while I went walking around wide awake talking to a few competitors. Around 7:30 we pulled the brisket and pork butts and got them wrapped and back on the grill. It was after the meats were wrapped and chicken had went in the brine for about 15 minutes we remembered that they had backed turn in times back an hour starting with chicken and we didn't have the chicken or ribs on yet so we were behind schedule for chicken and ribs.

We end up getting the ribs on then rush to get the chicken on the grill, check the brisket and pork temps then closed the stretch back up. About 10:00 or so the ribs and chicken have been on about 2 hours and we have turn ins coming up soon and just hoping the ribs get tender soon. We get the chicken off the grill and get it rubbed and glazed then back on the grill to set up. We pull the brisket and cut the point and put the flat in the cambro. We then cut the point up and made burnt ends, rubbed and back on the grill. We ended up getting all the turn ins done and started packing up leftovers and breaking down camp. Awards were at 4:00 and we got no calls. Overall I had a great experience this weekend and I realize now that I have been doing a lot of things wrong up to now. I went into this weekend like an open sponge wanting to learn new techniques and more about ribs. I can say I did learn quite a bit this weekend and very appreciative for the information I learned. I am hopeful that my cooks from here on out will be more competition style and quite tasty.

From what he told me he will put me to work if I am willing which I am and also he will be an open book and share everything he knows. He said he went thru Myron Mixon's class last year and that is what he is using towards his program this year. He told me to go ahead and bring a notebook and take all the notes I want and he will answer any and all questions that I have.

That's great! It's always nice to read or hear about someone who's interested in helping others learn. Now you need to get him signed up here...

Looking forward to seeing your ribs in the August grill challenge thread!

Brad,I told him about the site and that you tasked me to extend an invite to.join the message boards. He asked me to send him the link which I did and there is a good chance he will join the boards. If I had to guess he will possibly use BarkShark BBQ if I had to guess.

Cactus1, Didnt get to see the webers in action. His Stump Stretch arrived last week so he burned it in and cooked a couple times last week so he brought the stretch exclusively this weekend. Angus is a large sturdy beast and was a blast cooking on.

It's too bad the team didn't get called but it sounds like you had a great overall experience! Thanks for directing Mike here; I hope he becomes a contributor.

The team with the air horn sounds like a bunch of jerks. Were they all boozing it up, too?

Oh yea they were drinking from the time they got up until they left before quiet time. We were all so fed up with the horns and so was everybody around us. Somebody went to kcbs and also ribberfest committee and complained so they nixed the airhorn. Saturday afternoon I talked an official with a golfcart into running me to my truck to take my stuff over and on the way back we were talking and he asked what they could do different from a first timers perspective and I told him no air horns. He kind of shuttered and told me sorry about that we heard a bunch of complaints and I personally went and put a stop to it. They were still obnoxious even minus the airhorn

As far as I know he only has 1 more competition this season which is in Connersville in a couple weeks. After the news I got yesterday I wont be able to do any more time off for a while as I will be job hunting.

You'll have to check the rules next year to see what gets added. I'm not against having a good time but at least show a little class and consideration for others.

I guess Mike's Father In Law got into it with those same guys at Jeffersonville for being obnoxious too so they have a pattern of partying too ridiculously. The final standings are online and they finished 19th, I was telling my buddy at work imagine how much higher they could have placed if they concentrated on their meat instead of who they can irritate and how many women they flirted with.